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Ask HN: Why do some people feel emotionally attached to AI models

7 points by ClipNoteBook ↗ HN
This feels strange to admit. I notice that sometimes I speak to AI systems like they are a friend. I know they are not real. I know there is no person on the other side. Still my brain acts like there is. I feel a small emotional connection. I see comments online saying this happens to others too.

I am trying to understand if this is a new psychological effect or if humans always did this with new technology. Maybe it is the same as talking to pets or giving names to cars. Or maybe it is something deeper.

Why do you think this happens. Is it loneliness. Is it empathy misfiring. Is it design tricks. Is it harmless or dangerous. I am curious how the HN crowd sees it.

6 comments

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DetectDefect
Same reason people go to Disneyland and pose with someone costumed as an anthropomorphic cartoon mouse: people model their gods after their own experiences and ideology.
krapp
Humans are social animals and we have evolved to form emotional bonds with one another, and a primary means by which we do this is the use of language.

LLMs are good enough at responding in natural language to fool our brains into thinking of them as other people, and therefore we form emotional attachments to them. This isn't strange, humans form emotional bonds with inanimate objects and animals and anthropomorphize things and concepts all the time. LLMs are just really good at hacking that part of our brains.